Earth-auger.



B. B. PHILLIPS & C. W. EVANS.

EARTH AUGER.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 5, 1914.

1 ,140,607. Patented May 25,1915.

Smemtozq 6T WEI/ans THE NORRIS PETERS CD.. FHOTO-LITHQ. WASHINGTON D. c.

UNITED s Tns A, 1 5.

BENJAMIN B. PHILLIPS, 0F GREENSBORO, NORTH CAROLINA, AND CHARLIE W.EVANS,

' OF NORFOLK, VIRGINIA. v

' EARTH-AUGER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed March 5, 1914. Serial No. 822,710.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that we, BENJAMIN B. PHIL- LIPSand CHAR IE W. EVANS citizens of the United States, residing atGreensboro and Norfolk, respectively, in the counties of Guilford andNorfolk, respectively, and States of North Carolina and Virginia,respectively, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inEarth-Angers, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in earth augers, moreparticularly to the class employed for forming postholes, and has forone of its objects to improve the construction and increase theefficiency and utility of devicesof this character.

Another object of the invention is to provide a device of this characterwhereby the outer portion of the earth is acted upon in advance of theearth which is located nearer the center of the cavity formed by theauger, whereby the force required is decreased without decreasing theefliciency of the device. 7

Another object of the invention is to provide a simply constructeddevice in which the boring portion may be disconnected for repairs orrenewal of broken parts.

Another object of the invention is to provide a device havingindependently operative boring members which are adjustable relative toeach other.

Another object of the invention is to provide an attachment wherebygrass, roots and like growths will be severed and prevented frominterfering with the removal of the earth during the boring operations.

With these and other objects in View the invention consists in certainnovel features of construction as hereinafter shown and described andthen specifically pointed out in the claims; and in the drawingsillustrative of the preferred embodiment of the invention Figure 1 is aside elevation of the improved implement. Fig. 2 is a plan view of theboring portion of the implement with the handle or stock in section onthe line 22 of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a detached plan view of thesupplemental or smaller boring member. Fig. 4 is a side view of theportion shown in Fig. 3. Fig. 5 is a detached perspective View of themain boring portion of the implement. Fig. 6 is a detached perspectiveview of the grass root cutting attachment.

Corresponding and like parts are referred to in the followingdescription and indicated in all the views of the drawings by the samereference characters.

The improved device comprises a handl or stock 10 provided with aturning head 11 at one end and pointed as represented at 12 at theopposite end, the point designed to penetrate the earth in advance ofthe boring implement in the usual manner. The stock 10 is preferablythreaded and squared at the juncture of the point 12 and the body of thestock and provided with a stop nut 13 at the upper end of the squaredportion. The main boring member is represented conventionally at 14 andin S-like form with the terminals increased slightly in width andknife-edged as represented at 15. The terminals are bent downwardlybelow the general line of the member 14 as represented in Fig. 1.Engaging the stock 10 beneath the body portion of the main boring member14 is a smaller boring member represented as a whole at 16 withknife-edged terminals 17, the latter being bent downwardly andsubstantially in transverse alinement with the cutting edges 15 of themain boring 1111- plement. The member 16 is less in diameter than themember 14 and will preferably be so located that the cutting edges 15 ofthe member 14 operate in advance of the cutting edges 17 of the member16,'which thus becomes an auxiliary cutter coacting with andsupplemental to the main cutter 14. The members 14l6 have squareapertures which engage the correspondingly shaped portion of the stock10 and are secured in position by a nut 18 which presses the members1416 against the stop nut 13.

With an implement thus described, as the stock 10 is rotated the cuttingterminals 15 of the main member 14- will form an annular cavity in theground while the cutting terminal 17 of the inner or supplementalcutting member 16 will sever the core of earth left by the main cuttingmember, and thus remove all of the earth, the cutting requiring lessforce than if the cutting portions 15 extended to the center of themember 14. The cutting terminal 17 of the cutting member 16 operatingrearwardly of the cutting members 15 require less force to operate them,as will be obvious.

Formed in the member 14, preferably in its upper face, are sockets 22preferably with dovetailed or overhanging sides 19 and converging towardthe inner edge of the cutter member to receive and support thecorrespondingly dovetailed base portions 20 of cutting blades 21. Attheir outer ends the sockets 22 are formed with recesses or seats toreceive the root portions of the blades 21. The blade portions are thusdirected downwardly with their outer faces flush with the periphery ofthe member 14, and do not retard the movement of the imple ment.Theblades 21 operate to sever grass roots and like growths or materialand prevent them from interfering with the operation of the implement,or preventing the removal of the implement with its load from theground. The blades 21 with their base portions are readily removable forrepairing or sharpening, or to be dispensed with when the implement isemployed in soil in which grass roots or like growths are notencountered.

The improved implement is simple in construction, and can bemanufactured of any required size or capacity.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new is 1- 1. Anearth auger comprising a stock, a main member connected to said stockand formed with a plurality of radially disposed cutting portions, andan auxiliary member of less size than the main member and connected tothe stock and formed with a plurality of radial cutting portionsoperating between the stock and the cutting portions ofthe main member,the cutting portions of said main member operating inadvance of thecutting portions of the auxiliary mem- 2. An earth auger comprising astock, a main member connected to said stock and formed with a pluralityof radially disposed cutting portions and with radially directedsockets, and root severing devices each including a base portion seatedin one of said 4 sockets and a downwardly directed cutting "blade.

3Q An earth auger comprising a stock, a main member connected to saidstock and formed with a plurality of radially disposed cutting portionsand with radially directed sockets, each socket having a recess at itsouter end, and root severing devices each including a base portion,seated mom of said sockets and a downwardly directed blade engaging inone of said sockets and supported thereby from lateral displacement.

In testimony whereof we affixour signatures in presence of twowitnesses.

BENJAMIN B. PHILLIPS. [11. s] CHARLIE W. EVANS. [L.S.]

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patento' Washington, D. C.

